Roblox growth slumps, but the company is betting big on AI to compensate
Roblox reported a decline in daily active users and engagement despite strong viral titles, but plans to offset losses by investing heavily in generative AI tools for game creation.
Roblox released its quarterly financial results, revealing a shortfall in daily active user targets. Leadership acknowledged missing the 145 million user estimate, with actual figures at 138 million—a 9 percent year-over-year decline. While hours engaged reached 34 billion, this still marked a 15 percent drop from the previous year. The company attributed the decline to unusually strong growth in the prior period.
Roblox is pivoting toward generative AI as a solution to declining user metrics. Leadership emphasized AI’s potential to accelerate content creation and compensate for reduced user engagement. Over 80 percent of the platform’s top 100 games from the past quarter were reportedly made using AI tools. The company plans to heavily invest in these initiatives to drive future growth.
The company’s AI training process recently drew scrutiny after it was revealed that an AI agent scraped 145.5 GB of 3D assets from Open3DLab, including adult content. A Roblox spokesperson described the incident as a mistake, stating the content would not be used for AI training. The company confirmed the scraping occurred earlier in the week during investor communications.
Roblox founder and CEO David Baszucki framed AI as a transformative force for the gaming industry. He described AI as driving a 'step function change' in content creation pace during investor remarks. The company’s bullish stance on AI contrasts with its recent user engagement challenges, signaling a strategic shift toward technological innovation.